Improvement in spring-equalizers



W. H. ELLIOT.

SPRING-EQUALIZER.

Patented April 4,1876.

N,PETERS PHOTO-LITHOGRAPNER, WASHINGTON, D C.

. of the same.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM H. ELLIOT,

PATENT @FFIGE.

OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN SPRING-EQUALIZERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 175,595., dated April 4, 1876; application filed February 7, 1876.

To allwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WM. H. ELLIOT, of the city, county, and State ofNew York, have invented a new and Improved Carriage-Spring; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

Similar letters of reference indicate the same devices in all the figures.

To enable others skilled in the arts to comprehend, make, and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its nature, construction, and operation.

The nature of. my invention consists in the employment of an equalizer in such combination with a carriage-body and one or more side or reach springs that a load placed upon any part of the body shall not depress it unequally, as will be hereinafter explained and claimed.

Figure l of the drawing represents a side elevation of a buggy provided with a reachsprin g and an equalizer, showing the rear axle and bolster in section- Fig. 2 is a plan view Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view of the same, looking toward the rear. I

a is the carriage-body; b, the rear axle; b, the bolster; e, the reaches connecting the same. dis an elliptical leaf-spring, which I term a reach-spring, because, like the reaches, it connects the rear axle with the bolster. This spring is secured to the body at (1; e, the rockshaft, composed of any suitable material, having its hearings in brackets t, which are socured to the axle. This shaft is provided with rigid arms m, one at or near each end. The ends of the arms are connected with the carriage-body by means of rods or links it, said I links being pivoted to studs 0 at their upper each side, a pair of the arms r are placed at or near each end of the rock-shaft. To the extremity of the arms 1" the spring at is pivoted at its rear end, the forward end of said spring being pivoted to a strap, 8, which in turn is secured to the bolster. A short stirrup might be used here, which would make the action of the equalizer less positive, allowing the body to have a little rock fore and aft.

The object and effect of my peculiar combination of devices are as follows: When a load is thrown upon the forward end of the carriagebody the reach-spring is depressed, and therefore elongated. The forward end of the spring being pivoted at a fixed point, its elongation necessarily rolls the rock-shaft in its bearings, through the operation of the spring upon arms 0', carrying the lower end of these arms backward and the forward ends of the arms m downward, bringing down with them the rear end of the carriage-body. When a load is thrown upon the rear end of the carriage-body the arms at are depressed by links a, causing the lower ends of arms 'r to swing backward, which depresses or drags down the springs, and brings down with them the forward end of the carriagebody, so that whether loaded at the front or rear end the result of my combination a is to keep the body level.

The spring, instead of being bolted rigidly to the body at 61, may have a limited motion in a vertical plane upon axis 00. This would give the spring greater freedom of action.

By the depression of an ordinary reachspring at the center four inches, it will be but it also holds it level against loading the ends unequally. The arms m and r form a lever whose fulcrum is in the axis of the rockshaft, which is supported upon the runninggear, the carriage-body, and the springs, and at one end are connected together by this lever, and through it the body and springs act upon each other, each alternately becoming power or weight as the load is changed from one end of the body to the other.

As the radial movement of the link 1?. is very slight, this device and the stud 0 might be made in one elastic piece, and so avoid the noise of ajoint between them.

I prefer, and have shown, one spring, for the reason that when one centrally-arranged sprin gis employed in connection with an equalizer, this latter device is not subject to the severe strains that are liable to fall upon it when used with two side reach-springs, as fully set forth in my before-mentioned patent.

The operation of my combination of devices is the same whether one or more springs are used; and I make my claim without reference to the number of springs employed.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to have secured to me by Letters Patent of the United States, is

2. The equalizer e m n, supp )rted upon the' running-gear in suitable bearings, in combination with the carriage'body and a reachspring, which is pivoted at a fixed point to the running-gear at one end, and supported at the other end upon the equalizer by means of rigid arms 1', whereby the movements of the sides and ends of the body are equalized, sub- 1 stan ti all y as specified.

WM. H. ELLIOT. Witnesses:

D. LEWIs, LoUIs E. MOORE. 

